Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 Deaf Like Me - A Must Read For Parents of Deaf Children February 22, 2008
This book, the true-life story of parents who struggle to do the best they can for their deaf child, is one of the most concise and important books ever written on this subject.
The book doesn't tell hearing parents what decisions they should make for their deaf child, but instead tells this family's story in an easy to read and engaging first-person narrative, written from the point of view of the child's father.
Lynn Spradley's revelation at the dinner table, after her parents teach her the first signs they've learned at a night school class, is heart breaking and revealing. 'Name me?' she demands to know. What is my name? Without sign language, there was no way to bridge the gap between parent and child, and she was five years old before she knew her own name.
A universal story told in particulars--strongly recommended November 18, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
"Deaf Like Me" is one of my favorite books of all time in any genre, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who comes across this page.
The book is a richly detailed autobiography of one family's struggles to grow up with deafness in mid-1960s America. As such, it provides a terrific introduction into a key moment in the history of deaf education when deaf children were still suffering from a wrong-headed emphasis on lip reading and vocalization, rather than sign language. Members of the deaf community have long heralded the book for this reason.
But "Deaf Like Me" isn't a book just for deaf people and others interested in deaf culture. To the contrary, I think, it's a book for anyone who grew up in 1960s America, and possibly for anyone who has struggled to communicate with loved ones ever.
That's because there are so many parallels between this little family's struggles to learn how to communicate with one another against a background of changing norms and great uncertainty, and the difficulties that many American families went through in the 1960s to speak with and understand one another on issues ranging from civil rights to the Vietnam war. Such struggles afflict most generations everywhere.
None of this is to suggest that I think the authors of "Deaf Like Me" intended to write a metaphorical treatise on 1960s America much less humanity. To the contrary, I believe the authors' sole focus was on the Spalding family's particular struggles. One of the authors was a trained anthropologist, and that comes through in the book's unerring attention to details as opposed to generalizations. It's these details in large part that bring the book to life.
Nonetheless, as a hearing person with no deaf family members, I found myself identifying with this book a lot. I suffered as the little girl Lynn and her parents suffered. And I rejoiced in their discovery that everyone in the family can express themselves and be understood if only they learn to "hear" one another in the different ways that each of us has to communicate.
Strongly recommended.
 Good Book, But May Be Overrated September 1, 2003
9 out of 17 found this review helpful
Many people find this book THE book to read in regards to a deaf child's experience (of course, that includes her family as well). And this book is very good at showing you what a hearing family goes through when a deaf child is born into it. It tells of the "typical" struggle between raising their child strictly oral or letting them sign, too. Many doctors and therapists tell hearing parents that to allow their deaf child to sign would be to hinder their ability to speak, lipread, or progress intellectually. All of this is hogwash, but, nevertheless, that is what this book is about. What should we do with our child? If you're looking for that kind of informative read, this book is sure to please. For me, it was just another book about the same old issue and I found myself skimming often just to get to something original. As harsh as that may sound, that's just this deafie's opinion. :v)
 Honest example of raising a deaf child in the hearing world March 23, 2002
21 out of 21 found this review helpful
Deaf Like Me is a story of 2 young parents struggling to raise their deaf daughter, Lynn, in a hearing world. Written by Thomas Spradley, Lynn's father, the book begins before Lynn was born with her mother's fear of rubella. The book takes you through the fear and waiting for the pregnancy and the eventual realization of Lynn's deafness. The story is written in a simple, straightforward manner, yet conveys the emotions of the new parents. The descriptions Thomas gives are often lacking in vibrancy and inventive vocabulary, but at the same time he conveys honest, true-to-life emotion.
The first 80% of the book is focused on the Spradley's attempts to raise Lynn to succeed in the hearing world. Thomas agonizingly describes the auditory training and constant schooling that he and his wife give Lynn, only to have her barely speaking 4 words at the age of 5. The constant movement of the family portrays varying experiences that Lynn and her parents go through as they try to teach her lip-reading and speech. It is not until the last 2 chapters that the Spradleys finally realize that communication with their daughter is more important than their dreams for her success as a `normal' hearing person and begin teaching her sign. These last two chapters show Lynn's character developing its own independent personality. Lynn also begins to explore a new deaf culture that neither her nor her parents have any experience.
My fault with the book as that I feel it ends just as the story becomes interesting. The eighteen chapters of oralism, which are shocking and disturbing, are painful lesson in futility. An impatient reader would most certainly give up on the book after the seemingly thousands of failed attempts at oralism. The dedicated reader however, is rewarded with touching moments of a family that finds its `normalcy' through the common language of sign.
A Landmark Book December 5, 2001
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
Tell-alls by parents of disabled kids is a genre now, but when Deaf Like Me first was published, it was an unusual book for the market. The story is of the Spradley family, and daughter Lynn, who is one of many children born Deaf in the US in the late sixties and early seventies, the result of an epidemic of Rubella (German Measles).At the time Lynn's deafness was diagnosed, the common wisdom among hearing professionals was that children born deaf should not be exposed to any kind of sign language, and instead should receive intensive tutoring, even as infants, in speaking and speechreading. Although the tide would turn soon, the Spradleys had no way of anticipating that; they embarked on an odyssey of trying to teach Lynn to speak, and with a hearing aid, and by watching intently, to appear to listen as a hearing child. After many years of pouring words into Lynn, with the promise from the experts that one day Lynn would finally pour the words back out, the Spradleys are frustrated with not being able to talk to their daughter. Lynn is several years old, and becoming a discipline problem. Then one day, the Spradleys meet a five year old, signing Deaf child, a child who not only communicates with her parents, but makes jokes. The Spradleys are forced to reconsider years of expert advice balanced against one little girl who can talk to her parents, where their daughter cannot. How the Spradleys learn to stand on their own, and disregard the experts, even in the face of some heavy censure, is the story of heroism. This is a book to own, because you will want to return to it again and again.
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